Do we dare to deny the unthinkable?

Sunday

Jun 16, 2013 at 4:30 AM

Mike TowerJust My Opinion

Recent actions within the current administration should make us feel very discouraged as we see more and more evidence of the danger of power at the highest levels. As I have often quoted Lord Acton, "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."Recent stories detailed the Internal Revenue Service especially scrutinizing conservative groups applying for nonprofit status only because of their conservative-sounding names. Clearly, this was political power being directed and exercised by powerful leaders at the very top of the current administration.Who really authorized these investigations? We will probably never know. However, does it seem at all reasonable that the most powerful leader in the world did not know about this until he came across it in the media?Then we saw recent reports about the Justice Department reviewing phone and email records of Associated Press reporters. It wasn't just a few rogue reporters being monitored, it was dozens. The reasons for such scrutiny were claims of a terrible threat to national security. One might believe that story if the reporters targeted had been few in number. However, dozens of reporters being suspected of plotting against our national security simply defies imagination. It doesn't take much of a leap to imagine a blanket investigation of every individual who has ever said or written anything negative about our current leadership. Our president denies awareness.Then, looking back a bit earlier, we had the Benghazi affair. I doubt we will ever know the real reasons our ambassador to Libya wasn't better protected, or why more vigorous rescue attempts were not made. The entire truth will probably never be exposed.What has been proven is that some in the administration participated in covering up or spinning the facts as they were known. Was that done to help the president before the election? Our president, as would be expected of most politicians, denies involvement in any way.And now we learn from a CIA/NSA consultant, Edward Snowden, that every American's phone calls and email records are easily available to our government with no apparent regard to our constitutionally promised protection of privacy by the Fourth Amendment.How much more evidence do we need to prove our Constitution has become no more than an inconvenience easily ignored by whomever is currently in administrative power?It seems we are increasingly seeing executive orders bypassing constitutional rule. Most of us have become comfortable with video surveillance while in public. However, now we learn any of our communications, written or spoken via technology, is available to those who we must trust to protect our rights to privacy. How does this make you feel?This is not an anti-Democrat or anti-Barack Obama rant. It just happens he is the current holder of the highest elected office in our nation as these recent events transpired and were exposed. These kinds of events have happened in the past under presidents from both parties. The big difference, of course, is the giant leap in technology which allows so much information to be so easily evaluated and then stored forever.However, how can so many events pass any reasonable smell test when the president repeatedly proclaims he had no knowledge? He is either completely disconnected from the organizations he is responsible for managing, or ... ?These recently exposed events should also cause Americans to wonder about the seldom discussed massive expansion of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), originally created by President George W. Bush. Citizens have mostly remained spectators silently watching the creation and expansion of what can only be considered an internal national military force.Perhaps our leaders know our porous borders already have or will allow terrorists and weapons of mass destruction to enter our country. Maybe they understand how widespread the threat of home-grown terrorism really is and are simply trying to develop an adequate policing force to protect us.Or perhaps our leaders know our nation is inevitably headed for much harder times, and not knowing how to prevent it, are preparing for civil unrest. Are they preparing to protect the haves from the have-nots? Are they preparing to fight a rebellion of Americans no longer able to feed their families?And worst of all is the possibility that an internal military force such as the DHS could someday be used by an evil leader to enslave our citizens, as history has shown being done so often in other places.Is any of this connected to the administration's strong support for firearms control?Power has always been corrupting. Our leaders are proving they have the power and willingness to investigate anyone they choose, violate constitutional privacy laws and, seemingly, lie to our faces. It's to our own detriment if we deny the unthinkable.These are my opinions. What do you think?Mike Tower lives in Hendersonville. Reach him at mike41tower @gmail.com or visit capau.org.